Oldies But Goodies {Put This One on Your TBR List} Book Review: The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager by Karen S. Wiesner

 

Oldies But Goodies

{Put This One on Your TBR List}

Book Review: The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager

by Karen S. Wiesner

 

Riley Sager's The Last Time I Lied is a thriller published in 2018 and it reminded me of some teenage drama B-movies that came out in the 80s and 90s where particularly stupid young adults make bad decisions and spend the rest of their lives paying the price. In this story, a rich girls' summer camp reopens 15 years after it was closed due to the unsolved disappearances of three prominent teenage girls. Heroine Emma stayed in the same cabin as the older, lost girls. Now a painter, Emma suffers survivor's guilt, painting the three missing girls over and over in her acclaimed art. When the owner of the camp decides to reopen despite the notoriety of Camp Nightingale, she invites Emma to teach painting during the summer session. Emma knows she needs to deal with the past and this seems like the way to do it. Besides, she's determined to find out the truth of what happened a decade and a half ago--even if it means potentially stirring up a hornet's nest and setting in motion a repeat of the past. 

One of the things I'm always lured into Sager's stories with is the promise of potential supernatural explanations for unsolved mysteries. In this story, the ghost of one of the missing girls seems to be haunting Emma's consciousness--or is she physically haunting her? Not knowing kept me reading. I loved the allegory of Emma painting the three girls into all of her art and then covering them up under forest scenes of paint. Emma can't get past this in her painting let alone her life until the mystery is finally solved. 

Sager is a solid writer and always includes well developed characters that you root for even as you doubt them and their true motives. This plot was filled with a large amount of red herrings and suspects along with multilayered subplots and suspense galore. While a lot of the reviews I read about the thriller talked about a shocking twist at the end, I for one anticipated something just like this (which could just mean I'm a writer as well as a reader). For that reason, to me it simply felt well done and perfectly executed, not particularly surprising. The story would have felt incomplete without that precise denouement. 

My only real complaint is a pretty mild one that I've spoken of in at least one of my previous reviews for this author's books. The tale just dragged on and on. In part, I admit I don't feel any great love for summer camps, having never gone to one nor ever really wanted to. I felt there were too many characters, too many mysteries to solve, too many twists and turns. As I've alluded to before with Sager, I felt the book was unnecessarily complicated, something others might consider a plus, but which made the off-shot tangents in the plot a burden for me to get through. I'm not sure it needed such a large cast of characters either. I had a little bit of trouble keeping track of who was who and how they all fit in the story--past and present. 

Overall, though, The Last Time I Lied is another solid brainteaser, and Sager has convinced me to put him on my "read everything by this author" list. Stay tuned. I expect I'll be reviewing more of his books in the future. 

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 150 titles and 16 series.

Visit her website here: https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/

and https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/karens-quill-blog

Find out more about her books and see her art here: http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor

Visit her publisher here: https://www.writers-exchange.com/Karen-Wiesner/

{Put This One on Your TBR List} Book Review: Hunter's Run by Gardner Dozois, George R. R. Martin, and Daniel Abraham by Karen S. Wiesner

 

{Put This One on Your TBR List} Book Review: Hunter's Run

by Gardner Dozois, George R. R. Martin, and Daniel Abraham

by Karen S. Wiesner

 

 

Be aware that there are spoilers in this review. 

Hunter's Run is a science fiction novel published in 2007 and written over the span of 30 years by "three young authors over time": Gardner Dozois (who's credited with the original concept), George R. R. Martin, and Daniel Abraham. I reviewed one of Martin and Dozois' co-edited anthology collections (Rogues) back on June 28, 2024. Martin is, of course, the famed author of A Song of Ice and Fire (HBO's Game of Thrones). Dozois was a science fiction author before he passed in 2018 as well as the founding editor of The Year's Best Science Fiction anthologies (from 1984 through 2018) and Asimov's Science Fiction magazine (1986–2004). Abraham is a novelist best known for his The Long Price Quartet and The Dagger and the Coin fantasy series, and (with Ty Franck) as the co-author of The Expanse science fiction series under the joint pseudonym James S. A. Corey.  

In 1976 Dozois conceived of the story of a man floating in darkness. A year later, he was invited to teach at a summer science fiction writing workshop by Martin, who found Dozois's story interesting. Dozois felt stalled in continuing it so, after three years in a drawer, he asked Martin to collaborate. Martin wanted to explore the alien world of São Paulo. In 1982, Martin couldn't get any further in completing the story either, so he passed it back to Dozois. Neither was able to find a way to progress, and the book went back into a drawer until 2002. Martin brought it to the attention of a young "Turk", author Abraham, who completed it as a novella. Martin called it "Shadow Twin". It was published in 2004. Later, Dozois reworked it into a 300-page-plus novel and renamed it Hunter's Run. Despite how disjointed the writing of this story undeniably was (the full account of the process is included in the back matter of the published novel), it surprisingly does come together in a seamless and cohesive way. At no point in time did I feel like someone (or some two or three) else had written certain aspects of the story. If for no other reason, that does make this "experiment" quite an achievement.

Before I proceed any further, I'll again warn that there's no way to review this book the way I want to without giving away key aspects of the plot. If you want to read the story without being told those pivotal points, go read the book and come back to this review later. 

In this futuristic science fiction, humans have reached the stars but unfortunately alien species including the Silver Enye, Turu, Cian, and others have already claimed the choice worlds. However, these races allow human colonists (mostly the downtrodden, poor, and/or potential lawbreakers) to join in the world-building by crash-testing them on empty planets too dangerous to be colonized by the "worthy". 

The main character Ramón is a thoroughly despicable creep who came to the planet to escape the poverty and hopelessness he faced on Earth. Unfortunately, the capital city on São Paulo is no better. The only law in this place is survival. A prospector, Ramón drinks away whatever money he makes or spends it on the woman he's with, though certainly doesn't love or particularly even like. He's an abusive jerk (though Elena can be described exactly the same way) who ends up killing someone important. On the run in the wilderness "wastelands", he tells himself if he can find a rich mineral strike somewhere, he can start his life all over. He stumbles upon an alien installation. Before he can do anything about it, he's kidnapped by the aliens. 

When he comes to, he's told by the aliens that another man has discovered their location and they have to capture him before he reveals their existence to the human colonists back in São Paulo. Ramón is compelling to join that hunt. In the process, Ramón begins to bond with his captor Maneck. Eventually Ramón learns that the other human intruder was actually the original Ramón that the aliens have cloned to create him--he's the clone of the original Ramón. Despite this, Ramón begins to understand that these advanced aliens also landed on this hostile planet where they're just trying to survive. Cloning humans and trying to learn their behavior is simply a way for them to blend in and co-exist. 

The clone-Ramón manages to escape this captor and meets up with the older, jaded and, frankly, out of shape version of himself, who doesn't recognize him. It doesn't take long for clone-Ramón to realize he really, really does not like the original Ramón. He begins to question his own existence, intentions, and purpose as a result. When the original Ramón discovers who he is, survival is again the only option. The clone kills the original (whoa!) and tries to take up his old life in the capital--which means consequences of the original's crimes and imprisonment. Soon the clone decides he has more in common with the aliens and more chance at a life of peace and purpose with them. 

While all the authors who had hands in this project played with radically different ideas (told in the interviews in the back of the book) for Hunter's Run, at its heart, the theme is in the exploration of what it means to be human. Everything you've read thus far in this review are all the reasons I wanted to love this book. It sounds amazing, doesn't it? The subject matter, the setting, and the concept is utterly compelling to me as a person and a writer. I truly enjoyed the Enemy Mine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enemy_Mine_(film) overtones that pervaded the interactions of clone-Ramón and the alien. 

To me, the fatal flaw in Hunter's Run (and probably it's earlier version "Shadow Twin" as well) was that the authors jointly made the protagonist--and, by default, his clone--so unlikable and thoroughly despicable that I never got to the point of feeling like his/their story was captivating, nor were they worth rooting for. In his interview in the back of Hunter's Run, Dozois said, "There was an essay by Damon Knight complaining that almost all heroes in science fiction are middle-class white Americans whereas almost no one on Earth is… 'Where is the space hero who is Mexican?'…I made Ramón in the 1970s very stereotypical… We needed to move away from that." Given that glimpse of story creation, I found it highly ironic that the three authors, even working together, ultimately chose to make Ramón stereotypically violent and reprehensible, so much so that it was hard to feel sympathy for him on the basis of the fact that, wherever this man went, he constantly felt he had to fight from every side just to survive. Ramón as a person was portrayed as ruthless, selfish, and vicious. He made bad choices he couldn't blame anyone else for. Regardless of his merciless setting or the environment he was in, he was a man who would always be who and what he was…a creep. There's no sugar-coating that fact with philosophical, psychological, or cultural discourses. 

As the majority of this story was told from the point of view of his clone, who does--to his credit--seem to be at least aware his original self was a jackass, I experienced disappointment that the clone didn't seem significantly changed even after he realized who he was in relation to the original Ramón and admitted to himself he didn't care for his "predecessor". As Jerry Seinfeld said, "adjacent to refuse is refuse". I guess ultimately I strongly need to feel a protagonist is a hero, or more accurately, has the potential to become one through the course of a story, not simply a degree above a villain, as this clone character was. I could in no way conceive that clone-Ramón might break free of any association with his original counterpart. His motives only felt slightly less egotistical and "survival of the fittest" than the original Ramón's. I kind of wish the authors had chosen to tell the story from Maneck's perspective, or at least partially so. 

The end also bothered me because, again, it displayed so pointedly that clone-Ramón wasn't much better than the original. There was no clear resolution. Clone-Ramón escapes prison and heads back to the alien hideout, hoping to find a way to live with the aliens in peace--and the reason he does this is to escape the imprisonment he's facing and to better himself. We never learn whether the aliens are amicable to this. I hate endings that don't provide adequate resolutions. To me, this still feels like a story untold, as it certainly must have at the many stages the authors shelved the unfinished versions. 

While there was a lot to be impressed by here in terms of the thematic explorations which make this tale well worth reading and the masterly world building of these three amazing writers, sadly I didn't actually enjoy it at any point. Still, it's certainly something any lover of science fiction action/adventure tales and fans of these three authors should consider picking up. 

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 150 titles and 16 series.

Visit her website here: https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/

and https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/karens-quill-blog

Find out more about her books and see her art here: http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor

Visit her publisher here: https://www.writers-exchange.com/Karen-Wiesner/

 

{Put This One on Your TBR List} Book Review: Lock Every Door by Riley Sager by Karen S. Wiesner

 

{Put This One on Your TBR List}

Book Review: Lock Every Door by Riley Sager

by Karen S. Wiesner

 

 

Lock Every Door was published in 2019, written by Riley Sager (pen name of author Todd Ritter). This is the second Sager novel I've read (I reviewed Home Before Dark on July 26, 2024). This Gothic suspense horror drew many comparisons to Rosemary's Baby, maybe because Sager dedicated the book to Ira Levin. I can see the reason for the comparison in the story parallels. 

In this novel, Jules Larsen is without family or job, and her boyfriend kicks her when she's down by cheating. Needing money and a place to stay fast, she interviews for a luxurious apartment sitter position at an exclusive New York City building called the Bartholomew, which has both rich and famous tenants and a checkered history filled with intriguing deaths and disappearances. 

In exchange for apartment sitting for three months, Jules will be given $1200 (which I found to be a pretty pathetic sum, considering the limitations placed on her during this time, but I suppose the point is that most of these sitters have no other place to live and need money badly). The only catch is three weird rules that she has to follow while living there: No visitors, no nights spent away from the apartment, and no disturbing the other residents. From the first, Jules can't seem to help herself from playing amateur sleuth. The disappearances of previous sitters is uncanny, considering all were broke, homeless, and without family. 

I enjoyed the Rosemary's Baby overtones that opened this story, along with the creepiness of the building with gargoyle statues guarding it, and the believability of this desperate character taking a job that doesn't seem quite smart. However, I strongly felt that the mystery investigation aspect smothered the very long, middle portion of the story. I found myself bored as more and more suspicious disappearances were discovered, and Jules tracked down every lead. I think at least a hundred pages could have easily been cropped out of the middle without significantly changing much of anything in the overall story. I guess ultimately I wanted much more horror, much less Scooby Doo. I did appreciate the social commentary aspect of how easy it is for penniless, orphaned young adults to fall through the cracks with hardly anyone--least of all law enforcement--even noticing. 

This well-written story did provide a rich tapestry when it came to setting and character development. I will say that I guessed the culprit or culprits almost right away, and I actually had a strong inkling why it was done as well--the second, short "flash forward" scene that the author included told me basically everything I needed to know. Admittedly, I'm a mystery writer myself so maybe it's harder to fool me than the other reviewers who all claimed this story had a lot of twists, turns, and surprises that I didn't find evident myself. However, oddly enough, I did think the red herrings were particularly well done and compelling. There's talk of this novel in development as a TV series by Paramount. All in all, this one is worth a read, and I do plan to pick up more of Sager's books in the future. 

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 150 titles and 16 series.

Visit her website here: https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/

and https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/karens-quill-blog

Find out more about her books and see her art here: http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor

Visit her publisher here: https://www.writers-exchange.com/Karen-Wiesner/

Oldies But Goodies {Put This One on Your TBR List} Book Review: If It Bleeds Collection by Stephen King by Karen S. Wiesner

 

Oldies But Goodies

{Put This One on Your TBR List}

Book Review: If It Bleeds Collection

by Stephen King

by Karen S. Wiesner

 

I grew up reading a Stephen King book every few days, sometimes within a single day if I got the enviable time to actually read that much. He was unquestionably my favorite writer when I was a teenager. He was without peer in my mind at conjuring supernatural creatures that I loved to be terrorized by, in large part because they weren't real. He also introduced me to a lot of things I was young and hungry to know, naughty, nasty things, and things that, in truth, I almost wish I'd never found out. As I got older, I got less and less able to handle realistic horror stories--the ones King wasn't intending to tell me. He wrote almost casually about horrible things like secret child molestation, deviations (sometimes sexual) that harmed a person as well as others, and the true crimes of this world, namely, the real ones where people are ritualistically cruel and judgmental, prejudice, and life was so routinely unfair to the underdogs. There's so much suffering that goes on inside battered souls that want nothing more than to hide and escape the attention of the world. He detailed vividly the kind of torment that no one else sees until it comes out and manifests itself almost like a demon out of control. 

I guess the books I was reading as I moved into adulthood made me want to escape, not to have bad situations finitely dissected and served up as a kind of punishment. I found it easier to throw the baby out with the bathwater. More aptly, I threw out the author that forced me to live such painful scenarios. That's undoubtedly a good testimony of King's skill as a writer, but I still find it hard to watch what can only be described sometimes as gruesome train wrecks. 

When I've ventured back into King territory here and there in the long years since then at the urging of a lifelong fan, I found his writing decidedly more mature, at least slightly more sensitive to realistic injustices, and less about supernatural horrors running amok. I miss the dark fantasy aspects, but I appreciate that I'm less traumatized reading his work these days. 

 If It Bleeds is a collection of four previously unpublished novellas by Stephen King published in 2020. I actually watched a wonderful adaptation of "Mr. Harrigan's Phone" on Netflix without having a clue it was based on the Stephen King story of the same name. I looked it up mid-watch and learned of the fact. Not more than a week later, I was at a book sale and saw a hardcover copy of the collection. I bought it and started reading. 

In "Mr. Harrigan's Phone", Craig is initially a refreshingly sweet nine-year-old boy who gets a job reading books to a retired, rich gentleman who lives in a choice spot in a town that's not so nice as to invite flurries of visitors at any given time. Rumor has it that in his younger years Harrigan was "tenacious" in exacting fitting judgment on those who wronged him or those close to him. But that's a side young Craig never actually saw in his kindly mentor of sorts--well, he never saw that side of Harrigan in life, at least. In death, now that's a whole different matter. 

With the movie version of this story, I was pretty surprised to find it dubbed a horror. From start to finish, it didn't frighten me one bit. I imagine it wouldn't have scared even a skittish four-year-old. It's just not what I consider horror. I wondered if they just called it that because of King's crown--he's known as the King of Horror after all. Later, as I thought about the story it told, I realized that the underlying horror of this piece was in adult Craig letting himself believe for even one second that justice can be rectified or gained through injustice and revenge. I loved this story and enjoyed watching Craig grow up. I was moved as he discovered for himself the limits of wrong and right. (The actors in the movie version were fantastic.) "Mr. Harrigan's Phone" was far and away my favorite in this collection. I heartily recommend both the story and the movie version of it. 

The second story in the collection, "The Life of Chuck" details the end of the world and what that looks like for various people but mainly for someone named Chuck. This tale is told backwards, with the end revealed first, working backwards. The three acts didn't make any sense in the order they were presented. Would they have been clearer if they'd been placed in linear order? I'll never know. I enjoyed the first (which was actually the last) of the three disjointed parts. From that point on, I was lost and never found my way back. Afterward, I read about the story online, trying to figure out the point. Not much explained it either. That they made a movie of this story is utterly unfathomable to me. King actually cited a billboard that he'd seen that read, "39 Great Years! Thanks, Chuck" as his inspiration and decided to try to figure out what that meant by writing about it. My opinion is that the outcome feels unfinished and fragmented the way it's presented.

"If It Bleeds" is a Holly Gibney story. Originally she appeared as an important secondary character in King's Bill Hodges trilogy (including Mr. Mercedes, Finders Keepers, and End of Watch published from 2014-2016), which I've never read. Suffering from OCD and a form of autism, Holly took the role of main character in the novel The Outsider, released in 2018, as a private investigator. I read this book long ago, also watched the 10-part miniseries version in 2020, intrigued by the idea of a man supposedly committing a murder when he was nowhere near the scene of the crime at the time, though the DNA found there and eyewitness accounts on both sides claim he was in each area simultaneously. His alibi is absolutely solid, as is his guilt in murdering and raping a young boy. So which is right? Or has something much more sinister taken place? 

I have to confess, I remember little of Holly Gibney in the book or the miniseries. What I recall most is that both the novel and the serial were long, so very, very long. Way too long and boring to hold my attention. Hundreds of pages and many hours filmed could easily have been cut to get to the gist of the story--the beginning and the ends were the two parts worth saving. The middle stuff was far too much to carry my interest, though I tried with both the book and the movie. By the time I got to the end of each, where it was actually exciting again, I didn't care. I just wanted it to be over. 

 

I had a similar experience with "If It Bleeds", which continues with a similar theme as The Outsider. I'm sorry to admit I found Holly excruciatingly dull, and I had a lot of trouble making it to the finish line with this story, though the overall idea was of interest to me, as was The Outsider. If anyone else is interested, Holly is also in a 2023 released, self-titled novel. 

The final story in If It Bleeds is "Rat". A writer with only short story success has never been able to finish a full-length novel. Inspired with an idea that has him excited, he rushes to his isolated cabin to write it. Bad weather and sickness set in while he's there. Unsure he'll finish his novel and feverish, he makes a shocking bargain with a sinister rat, but the author is just so desperate to make his career aspirations come true. Gee, what could go wrong? How could this man have not seen the end coming from the off? I can't say I loved this story, though it started out well enough. I couldn't get past the "what kind of a creep would agree to this pact?" aspect. Sigh. Incidentally, Ben Stiller optioned "Rat", intending to produce, star in, and direct the film adaptation at one point, but it's unclear whether that'll ever happen. 

While it's true I only found one offering in this collection really worth reading, I do think that single story is strong enough to warrant putting time and money into procuring it. Whether or not you're a fan of Stephen King, "Mr. Harrigan's Phone"--the novella and the movie--are the very best of the author. I expect you may see more reviews of Stephen King's work here in my Friday column in the future, as I ease back into the works of a favorite writer from my youth. 

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 150 titles and 16 series.

Visit her website here: https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/

and https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/karens-quill-blog

Find out more about her books and see her art here: http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor 

Visit her publisher here: https://www.writers-exchange.com/Karen-Wiesner/

{Put This One on Your TBR List} Book Review: The Mercy of Gods (The Captive's War, Book 1) by James S. A. Corey by Karen S. Wiesner

 

{Put This One on Your TBR List}

Book Review: The Mercy of Gods (The Captive's War, Book 1)

by James S. A. Corey

by Karen S. Wiesner

 

The authors James S. A. Corey (which are Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck) of The Expanse series (read my in-depth review here: https://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2023/07/book-review-expanse-series-by-james-s.html) have started a new trilogy called The Captive's War. The first installment is The Mercy of Gods published in August 2024. In this science fiction space opera, the Carryx are a hival empire that's been conquering worlds for centuries. Borg-like, they destroy or enslave, ever in search of those they can use to continue their totalitarian dominion in the universe. After finishing this tale, I learned that The Mercy of Gods was inspired by the book of Daniel in the Bible. In retrospect that makes a lot of sense. "Alien enemies" conquer a fertile land and drag slaves back to their homeland, forcing them to learn how to survive the best they can in a hostile environment. They have no choice about starting over from scratch with absolutely nothing to call their own, beyond the essence of their being, if even that can survive such heartless treatment. 

In this first book in a trilogy, the story opens with the reader becoming steeped in what can only be described as the petty machinations of mere humans. Dafyd is caught up in the academic intrigue and politics of the university. He's a mere assistant on a celebrated research team. Then, abruptly, the Carryx descend and wreck every last aspect of life and culture as these scientists know it. All life on the planet is doomed in one way or another. I was initially intrigued by what was happening, as the book states it: "…important scientific questions have finally been answered. Alien life exists, and they are a@#holes." It was more than a little disturbing to see the humans kowtowed so completely--"They were all living the same life in different bodies." I wondered how I might react to such a hopeless situation. A humiliating debasement period ensues for the survivors as they're transported to another planet that the enemy occupies. 

Once there, they're forced to rebuild some semblance of a life after being set the task of proving they were worth saving. Quickly, Dafyd and his fellow captives learn that the game their enemies play with slaves from multiple planets isn't merely a competition in which the species need to fight to survive. They must also prove they have value to their new "gods". This longest section of the book, as Dafyd and the research team very slowly come to understand what they're up against was, well, long and not a little tedious. There were a lot of characters, none of them all that compelling or different from you and me…which may well have been the point for the authors, as I expect that the ordinary beings become extraordinary as the trilogy progresses. However, it would have been nice to have at least the main character Dafyd be someone really worth rooting for. In this initially entry, I can't say he actually was. But he could be later on. The seeds have been laid for that. 

Taking the time to understand the Carryx may be the only way to find a weakness that can be exploited. This could be a long, drawn-out war, starting with Dafyd and the team's own ruthless compliance to the enemy--which can and will easily be construed as betrayal to some, if not to the majority. Dafyd has no choice but to become as hated as he may someday be revered as a champion in the universe. To save the future of not only mankind, the present must be sacrificed with the same lack of mercy shown by the Carryx. 

Another thing that bothered me a little was that I found events a bit predictable. Luckily, that didn't continue the whole way through. From the start of the alien invasion, I had a strong idea where this tale was heading. It went exactly where I expected it to from start to almost the absolute end, where a little twist perked me up. 

None of this is to say that the material held only boredom for me. I did read from start to finish without doing the "rush reading" I tend to when a story has started to lose my attention. But this particular installment only just kept me reading. I don't deny that the reason for that is because I loved The Expanse so much, I was more than willing to give these authors a larger than average chance to impress me. 

This finale was truly the beginning of the saga, slow and slightly plodding in its establishment, but the denouement set up anxiety and tantalization for what might come next. It was strange to be on the edge of boredom through the whole story and then suddenly, in the closing chapters, my ideas where the overall theme was going got shaken up so completely. I find I'm really looking forward to where Book 2 might venture in this scenario. No word has been released about when that might be as of this writing in December 2024. However, the trilogy is already scheduled to be made into a television series by Expanding Universe, a multi-platform content company headed by the authors themselves (among others). The adaptation of The Captive's War is their first project. 

 

As is the Corey custom (fans of The Expanse can testify), in addition to the initial offering in the trilogy, a 90-page novella was released October 2024. "Livesuit" details humanity fighting back against the Carryx on other worlds not yet fallen to enemy claim. In order to do that, they're using "livesuit" technology. I actually read this ebook while waiting for my trade paperback copy of The Mercy of Gods to arrive. It was a very personal story of several humans' self-sacrifice in a war that seems all but hopeless. 

Ultimately, this is a solid beginning to what seems to be the start of a new, engaging trilogy, one with a welcome surprise ending. I'm looking forward to the TV adaptation as well as new literary offerings. 

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 150 titles and 16 series.

Visit her website here: https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/

and https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/karens-quill-blog

Find out more about her books and see her art here: http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor 

Visit her publisher here: https://www.writers-exchange.com/Karen-Wiesner/

Oldies But Goodies {Put This One on Your TBR List} Book Review: Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman by Karen S. Wiesner

 

Oldies But Goodies

{Put This One on Your TBR List}

Book Review: Odd and the Frost Giants

by Neil Gaiman

by Karen S. Wiesner 

 

The day I picked up the young adult novel Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman, read and wrote this review, the snow was coming down heavily outside just one day away from Christmas eve. This magical story was perfect for such a day spent indoors looking out at the world of chilly beauty. 

Written specifically for World Book Day in 2008, this nod to Norse mythology and the Vikings tells the story of Odd, a young Norse boy whose woodcutter father was drowned during a Viking raid. In the time since, his mother (herself a "prize" captured from just such a raid) has remarried a man with a large brood of his own children. He has no use for a crippled stepson. 

The village where Odd was born doesn't understand him. Instead of seeing him as the good luck his name is intended to be--"the tip of a blade"--they see him as, well, odd. Crippled after trying to use his father's axe, Odd decides to go away from this town where he's looked upon with disfavor and where winter is lingering overlong and the men "fight and fart and sing and sleep and wake and fight again". 

Outside his father's old woodcutting cabin, Odd follows a fox and an eagle overhead only to find a great big bear with his paw stuck in the honey-lined hollow of a tree. Odd can either leave the creature be or free it and risk being eaten after its sweet appetizer. Odd has compassion, and soon the animals reveal that they can not only talk but they aren't what they appear to be. They're gods from Asgard, transformed by a frost Giant that tricked them. Without help, they'll remain in their animal forms forever, powerless. 

I have a soft spot for Norse mythology and tales set around the characters that inhabit Asgard, so for me this was the perfect read for a snowy, pre-holiday afternoon. Odd is such a gentle, kind, inventive, and brave soul. This wonderful, light-hearted story should delight kids and adults alike. 

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 150 titles and 16 series.

Visit her website here: https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/

and https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/karens-quill-blog

Find out more about her books and see her art here: http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor 

Visit her publisher here: https://www.writers-exchange.com/Karen-Wiesner/

Taking the Bucket Out of the Bucket List, Part 2 by Karen S. Wiesner

 

Taking the Bucket Out of the Bucket List, Part 2

by Karen S. Wiesner 

In this final of an updated, two part reprisal of earlier posts on the Alien Romances blog, I discuss the wisdom and benefits of, and strategies for, drawing up a personal bucket list as early as possible--long before the curtain of a life is drawn. Only slightly belated as you draw up your New Year’s resolutions, I encourage everyone, not just those interested in writing (or aliens!), to read this. 

 

Last week we went over what a bucket list is, and I discussed my own realizations of wanting to achieve my most desired goals early enough in life to enjoy them throughout all the days of my life that followed. Let's continue with actual strategies for forging ahead. 

Taking the Next Step--Are You Ready? 

Coming up with a formal or informal bucket list as early in life as possible will help anyone focus their time and energies in areas they're already passionate about as well as provide excitement, inspiration, and the push toward finding purpose and a sense of accomplishment long before the curtain of a life is drawn. 

While I was working on this article, I was asked a couple questions that are worth considering on your own as you decide whether you're ready to take the bull by the horns yourself. 

Had I been making bucket lists since my twenties, or did I just start making them recently? All things considered, I’d have to conclude I’ve actually been making them mentally since I was 20 and I just never really realized that was what I was doing all this time.

Would I have benefited in my twenties by formally writing my goals down? Have I benefited now for writing them down versus just thinking about my plans in my head? I suppose the blanket answer to these two questions that feed into each other is about the same: It might have benefited me to formally write down my bucket list goals at any point; however, I’ve always had a mind like a relentless robot seeking out all the dark corners of my own soul. For me, it didn’t really make a huge difference to officially spell out my goals for myself. What you've seen presented in this article is what I saw in my head from the beginning. That said, I think most people probably will benefit greatly from actually make their bucket lists formal plans with loose or definitive goals. 

I have several pieces of advice to those wanting to forge ahead into a life lived with purpose:

 

A.     Choose wisely. You don't have to feel like you're required to have a certain number of goals on your list. I have four, which is a nice, even number, but if you only ever have one, that's fine. You can add to it if you want to (no pressure) at any time as you complete or become proficient at priority items. This thing isn't set in stone, nor should it be. If you discover one of your wishes isn't really something you like after all, well, you've learned something about yourself you didn't know before, right? That said, you do want to include on this list only things that you're strongly zealous about and are deeply committed to fulfilling. This is another reason why limiting the list is advisable. There's no point in having a checklist of this kind that includes a bunch of things you're not serious enough to actually make deliberate preparations in undertaking. I don't think anyone needs another random to-do list lying around collecting dust.

 

B.     Prioritize your bucket list in the order of the things you want to accomplish first and last, and don't try to take on the whole list at once. That's a recipe for failure. Start with the top one, the most important to you, and make a serious go of completing and/or developing it over time, perhaps even years. Make this part of your daily or weekly life. The whole reason for doing this long in advance of having an actual deadline (especially one as final as death!) is to accomplish things you enjoy and may spend the rest of your life taking pleasure in and cultivating. In many cases, the items on your list will require an investment: Of time, discipline, energy, money, and frequently all of the above. Trust me, you're embarking on a labor of love with any one of these.

 

C.     Make a plan for how to go about fulfilling the items on your bucket list, one at a time. Set goals over time so you're doing something toward making the wish reality. Make a commitment to forging ahead with your goals. Start small, if you need to, and make initially small investments of time, energy, and finances. Work into the passion that can motivate you to keep going bigger and better. I know a lot of people can't think of long-term projects that require large investments of time, energy, or money because their lives are busy, complicated, and/or they're financially unable. In those situations, creativity may be needed to get started. Devote just five, ten, fifteen minutes--whatever you can eke out every day or once a week to advance your project. Take free classes at your local library or online. Ask close friends and family to gift you with an item you need for a birthday or Christmas. Small, slow, and frugal can produce results eventually, too!

 

D.     Define your reasons for what you hope to accomplish with each item on your bucket list if for no other reason than that you set yourself on a path toward seeing where it's going, or where it could be going. I wanted to understand my motivations clearly from the start, whether I intended to advance in these areas for individual edification or for something more--such as, my drawing could potentially lead to an exciting new career for me in the future.

 

E.     Only you can decide if your pursuits are worthwhile. Don't let yourself or anyone else tell you that something you've chosen to do isn't meaningful or significant. The goal of personal development is valuable--whatever your chosen aspiration. At the very least, anything you achieve is one regret you'll never have to feel.

Nearly three decades after I started pursuing the wishes on my informal bucket list, I find myself realizing that as I look back over what I've managed to accomplish, I'm satisfied. If my time in this world ended tomorrow, I would feel as though I lived with purpose and that I'd accomplished something worthwhile. Instead of waiting until I was close to kicking the bucket, you might say I took the bucket out of my bucket list. I took the bull by the horns, and I'm reaching for previously categorized "don't even bother wishing 'cause they can't come true" things and I'm making them a passionate part of my everyday reality, one at a time, step by step, until my time runs out. 

If you're interested in taking the bucket out of your own bucket list, jumping in now on the things you've always wanted to do, the worksheet below might be helpful in getting you started. You can and should come back to this often in the future to revise and hone your goals, re-strategizing as you make progress from one item to the next. Remember, small, slow, and cheap still means moving forward. 

My Bucket List 

Date: (may include the dates of whenever you've revised) 

What's in My Bucket 

Wishes: (listed in order of priority, #1 being the one I'm most passionate about and the one I'll get started on first) 

#1 

When and how will I begin to reach for things in my bucket?

 

a)    How long do I want to experience this goal? Circle one: Once | Ongoing | Until I'm finished

 

b)    Detail the first step to beginning:

 

c)     Describe later steps to developing my goal:

 

d)    Specify the time(s) and day(s) I'm devoting to the undertaking:

 

e)    Brainstorm strategies to help accomplish my wish:

 

f)      Identify why this is in my bucket and what I hope to get out of it:

 #2

 

When and how will I begin to reach for things in my bucket?

 

a)    How long do I want to experience this goal? Circle one: Once | Ongoing | Until I'm finished

 

b)    Detail the first step to beginning:

 

c)     Describe later steps to developing my goal:

 

d)    Specify the time(s) and day(s) I'm devoting to the undertaking:

 

e)    Brainstorm strategies to help accomplish my wish:

 

f)      Identify why this is in my bucket and what I hope to get out of it:

 

You can find a PDF of this worksheet here: https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/uploads/2/3/5/5/23554234/bucketlistcourtesyofkarenwiesnertypeb.pdf   

For those who are more goal-oriented, Type A personalities like myself, you might want an even more vigorous plan of attack. For that, I offer a more in-depth worksheet, which you can find here: https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/uploads/2/3/5/5/23554234/bucketlistcourtesyofkarenwiesnertypea.pdf, or you could even incorporate the heart of the bucket list ideals into a SMART goals program (a simple internet search will hook you up for that). 

"Seize the life and the day will follow!" ~Linda Derkez 

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 150 titles and 16 series.

Visit her website here: https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/

and https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/karens-quill-blog

Find out more about her books and see her art here: http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor

Visit her publisher here: https://www.writers-exchange.com/Karen-Wiesner/